Synopsis: A detective investigates the death of a patriarch of an eccentric, combative family.

Release Date: November 27, 2019

Thoughts: This November, writer/director Rian Johnson (Star Wars: The Last Jedi) is hopefully going to give this Agatha Christie murder-mystery loving guy something to be thankful for when Lionsgate releases the star-studded whodunit, Knives Out. Packed to the brim with A-listers and a few solid B-list mainstays, this looks like a cheeky and fun black comedy with a bit of death thrown into the mix. With favorites like Jamie Lee Curtis (Halloween), Toni Collette (Muriel’s Wedding), Chris Evans (Avengers: Endgame), Daniel Craig (Skyfall), Michael Shannon (Midnight Special) among the suspects and sleuths, all bets are off on what Johnson has in store for us but I expect some twists to be turned and rugs to be pulled as we get to the final reveal. Fingers crossed this is as entertaining as it looks. Though I’m sure this must contain some sort of spoilers – the first look at Knives Out is fairly sparse and feels like it’s holding back big reveals for the finished product.

Review: If there’s one feeling that governed 2015’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens, it was nostalgia. Fans had toiled through the dark despair of the Star Wars prequels and were holding out hope that director J.J. Abrams (Star Trek) would bring them salvation in the continuing story of the sci-fi fantasy epic. So when The Force Awakens opened and was actually good, if not wholly great, most audiences that received the film well left the theater floating on a cosmic wave of good feelings of the old school charm that kept the original trilogy preserved so well over the years.

I count myself as one of those fans and gobbled up the film hook, line, and sinker. However, in hindsight it’s best to admit in the spirit of friendship that I fully recognize The Force Awakens was largely a remake of Star Wars: A New Hope. Sure, it wasn’t a paint-by-numbers carbon copy but the familiar themes of the original didn’t go unnoticed. I wasn’t as big a fan of 2016’s Rogue One: A Star Wars Story as many were, that film didn’t have anywhere to go so it remained flatter than a pancake to this viewer. Now, with the release of Star Wars: The Last Jedi the producers and filmmakers would really be put to the test. Would they continue to pull from the past to create something to please the fans, or would they dare to try something different?

Well, The Last Jedi is a little bit like walking forward while cinematically rubbernecking to spot where you were coming from. It’s immensely entertaining when it wants to be (which is most of the time) and a little lackluster in laying the groundwork for future installments and whenever it gets too cerebral. Writer/director Rian Johnson (Looper) ably picks up the reins from his predecessor and does more than just keep his seat warm before Abrams returns for Episode 9. There’s a forward thrust but it does take time to reach warp speed.

It’s always a special thrill to hear John Williams score announce the start of the film and a bit of excitement reading the opening crawl. The first fifteen minutes are classic Star Wars, with a group of rebel fighters including Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac, A Most Violent Year) protecting their cavalcade and fearless leader (the late, great, Carrie Fisher, This is My Life) from an attack waged by General Hux (Domhnall Gleeson, Goodbye Christopher Robin). It’s here were a strange comedic chord is first heard, one that made me wonder if Johnson had decided to inject his film with more Spaceballs (Mel Brooks’ brilliant send up of the Star Wars films) than was appropriate.

We last saw young orphan Rey (Daisy Ridley, Murder on the Orient Express) traveling with Chewbacca on the Millennium Falcon to find Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill, Kingsman: The Secret Service) who was in a self-imposed exile. While Poe and Leia continue to evade the monstrous Hux, Rey tries to sway Luke to return and help the resistance defeat The First Order and their leader, General Snoke (a CGI creation that looks better here than in The Force Awakens, once-again voiced by Andy Serkis, Breathe). There’s also the matter of Kylo Ren (Adam Driver, Frances Ha), Leia and Han Solo’s son who turned to the Dark Side and is still smarting from the butt-whooping he received from Rey and Finn (John Boyega) at the end of the previous film. He’s out for revenge…but does he have more secrets up his well-armored sleeve that will change the course of The First Order and the resistance?

Juggling several storylines at once, Johnson keeps the 2.5 hour film moving a good clip. A race against the clock rescue mission involving Finn and Rose Tico (Kelly Marie Tran, an excellent addition to this male-heavy world) manages to remain engaging even when it’s broken up and interspersed with the goings-on of other characters. The movie has a few endings but manages to justify them with ease.

Aside from Benicio Del Toro (Inherent Vice) as a code-breaking thief and Laura Dern (Jurassic Park) showing up with purple hair as Leia’s second in command, it’s largely the same old gang we first sparked to in previous installments. While certain players take more of a backseat in glorified cameos (12 Years as Slave’s Lupita Nyong’o is a mere hologram here), Johnson has introduced a few memorable creatures like the cute Porg’s, Crystal Foxes, and Luke’s island-dwelling servants that one critic hilariously dubbed “the fish nuns”. They’re not going to replace Chewie or R2D2 in your heart but they do rally a convincing bid for you to make some room.

The second movie in a planned trilogy can often feel a bit flimsy as a bridge between the first and final chapters but The Last Jedi avoids those pitfalls. Depending on your knowledge of the Star Wars universe, it could easily stand on its own. It makes you look forward to the next installment rather than feel desperate for answers that you might not get by the time the credits roll. The effects are top notch, the score from Williams sounds as glorious as ever, and try not to get a little choked up every time Fisher’s on screen.

Synopsis: In 2072, when the mob wants to get rid of someone, the target is sent 30 years into the past, where a hired gun awaits. Someone like Joe, who one day learns the mob wants to ‘close the loop’ by transporting back Joe’s future self.

Review: Lately, whenever a movie arrives with huge buzz I’ve found myself more resistant to believe only because the hype machine can be ramped up for pretty much anything. With the internet growing and word-of-mouth advertising becoming a thing of the past, it’s easy for studios to plant some seeds of hype around the web to gain traction for their film. That way when opening weekend arrives, audiences are more likely to go with what they hear rather than what they read.

In the case of Looper, the buzz has been growing steadily since the film was first screened. I approached the film with some hesitation only because there are several elements that I wasn’t sold on. The first was director Johnson who directed the overhyped Brick (which, admittedly, I never made it all the way through after several attempts) and the second was wariness for revisionist sci-fi. So when early reviews were good, I didn’t fully believe it. When major critics began giving it thumbs up, I didn’t fully believe it. Well, now that I’ve seen it…I fully believe.

One of the better films (entertainment-wise) to be released in 2012, Looper is the kind of movie that should make you want to go to more movies. It’s clever, funny, unconventional, and an absolute blast to let wash over you. Unlike similarly enjoyable movies that you can experience and leave behind, Looper stays in your brain for some time after and keeps working on you throughout the rest of your day/night. It’s not a deceptive film that you’ll need to watch over again to fully appreciate it (like Inception, another Gordon-Levitt film) nor is it a film you’ll WANT to watch only once.

The key to its success is a willingness to try something different – not a totally unique quality in film these days but one that rarely leads to the rewards Looper offers. There are concepts at work that couldn’t be pulled off by the uninspired or relayed by a group of people that don’t love the medium of film.

Starting with a bang (literally) the film is in a state of constant motion which keeps it several steps ahead of its audience along the way. Instead of getting so far ahead that we can’t catch up, Looper leaves breadcrumbs in its wake to keep you moving forward without getting lost. You do have to pay attention to see the nuances of the time travel storyline but it’s in these details that the film is most impressive. Non-linear storytelling seems to be making a comeback in film and TV (heck, even Gordon-Levitt’s Premium Rush benefited from this angle) and in Looper the jumping around to different times nearly always makes perfect sense.

After the film was over I sat with my movie mate and discussed the various jumps the movie makes and what that meant to its overall impact. If you dig deep there may be a few, um, loopholes that become evident but you’ll have to make a strong case to me for why they detract from the overall thrust of the movie.

With Looper, director/screenwriter Johnson finally proved to me why he is a director on the rise. As previously stated, I found his Brick to be interminable…so much so that I skipped his next film The Brothers Bloom. There’s a sophistication to this work not present in his previous films and the film community is a better place because of it. Johnson , cinematographer Steve Yedlin, and production designer Ed Verreaux have collaborated on an sharp looking, well fashioned film that looks exactly like it should. Like Robot & Frank, their vision of the future is less about flying cars and aliens and more about plausibly advancing our technology to several decades from now.

After TheDark Knight Rises and Premium Rush, Gordon-Levitt scores another win in 2012 (and he’s not done yet…he plays Lincoln’s son in Spielberg’s upcoming Lincoln) with a role he clearly put a lot of work into. Playing a young version of Willis, I didn’t always see the connection between the two…but it matches enough in the mannerisms and speech that it begins to make sense. Gordon-Levitt has the tougher job than Willis in the impression department but Willis also shines in a role tailor-made for his talents.

Blunt makes a total detour from the characters she’s played previously to deliver another on-the-money performance as a ballsy single mom. Playing her son, Gagnon is a real find…equal parts precocious and mysterious as his involvement in the future is revealed. It’s heady stuff for a kid to play and Gagnon is more than up for the challenge even at his young age. Daniels makes less of an impact as crime boss…but maybe it’s because he looks like he just woke up for many of his scenes.

The one thing I’ll say in the negative category is that the movie felt longer than it was. Two hours is still a long film but there were times when its eyes may have been bigger than its content and it overreached a tad too far. Still…that’s a problem with the editing not with the full picture.

Violent at times and violently funny at others, Looper is a nicely executed cinematic meeting of the minds that delivered full force entertainment for your hard earned cash. I went in expecting to be entertained but left entertained and inspired. With a tiny trim to tighten up the running time, this could be one of those films that we look back on as the beginning of a new movement in the sci-fi genre.